(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing dried rice. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a method of manufacturing dried rice which, in comparison with the conventional rice, need not be washed with water or soaked in water before being cooked, which is capable of allowing the cooking time to be reduced, and which allows the rice to have an appearance and a texture when cooked as excellent as rice cooked using an electric rice cooker.
(2) Prior Art
Development of the electric rice cooker has reduced the time required for cooking rice and has simplified the cooking procedure. However, there has been in increasing demand for methods of cooking rice in even simpler ways and in even shorter times, and various methods have accordingly been developed. Japanese Patent Laid-Open (KOKAI) No. 141257/1982, for example, proposes a method of making vacuum packed rice, in which polished rice washed with water is dehydrated and dried, and is then vacuum packed when the water content thereof has reached a predetermined value above that of the ordinary rice. However, dried rice made in this manner remains hard when cooked for about 15 minutes, and does not become at all fluffy. Apart from vacuum packing, a method of preparing dried rice with a pregelatinized starch content has also been developed, and examples of this method include Japanese Patent Laid-Open (KOKAI) No. 85258/1974 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 1964/1965. The former involves the drying of rice with a pregelatinized starch content after it has absorbed at least one type of basic amino-acid and at least one type of sugar alcohol. The latter discloses a method of manufacturing quick-cooking rice in which rice is soaked in water to which a retrogradation accelerator such as starch decomposing enzyme, polymerized phosphate, sorbitol or surface-active agent has been added, is steamed or boiled and then fried to pregelatinize the starch contained in the rice. The dried rice prepared by either of these methods can be made edible in a relatively short period of time by pouring hot water over it, and the rice has no core when cooked. However, since the starch in the rice has been pregelatinized beforehand, it is an inherent problem with such rice that when it is cooked, the texture thereof becomes too soft as compared with the cooked polished rice. In addition, when cooked, the rice prepared in either of the above methods lacks the special aroma inherent to well cooked rice. On the other hand, Japanese Patent Publication No. 31942/1977 describes a method of preparing modified rice by adding to polished rice a modifier consisting of 0.5 to 20% of rice bran oil, 3 to 30% of sorbitol, 0.05 to 5% of emulsifier and the balance water, in an amount between 0.5 and 2% by weight relative to the weight of the polished rice. In this method, since rice starch is not pregelatinized in preparation of modified polished rice, the rice has a good texture when cooked. However, this method does not allow the cooking time to be reduced sufficiently.